AutoUtility currently tracks 43 official NHTSA owner defect complaints for the 2016 Nissan Frontier. Air Bags & Restraints issues are the most frequently reported category, appearing in 11 complaints (25.6% of submitted records). Among these NHTSA complaint records, 3 filings cite a crash, 1 cites a fire, 1 reports one or more injuries.

Key Problem Findings
  • Total NHTSA Complaints: 43 reports
  • #1 Reported Problem Area: Air Bags & Restraints (11 reports • 25.6% of submitted complaints)
  • Secondary Problem Areas: Fuel & Propulsion System (8), Engine & Cooling (7)
  • Crash-Citing Complaints: 3 filings
  • Fire-Citing Complaints: 1 filings
  • Complaints Reporting Injuries / Fatalities: 1 injury filings • 0 fatality filings
Reporting Methodology: Statistics describe unverified consumer submissions voluntarily filed with NHTSA. Complaint volume is not normalized for vehicle sales volume or miles driven. Multiple components can be cited within a single owner complaint submission.
Total Complaints
43
Submitted to NHTSA ODI
Crash-Citing Complaints
3
Filings citing a collision
Fire-Citing Complaints
1
Filings citing smoke or fire
Complaints Reporting Injuries
1
Filings citing one or more injuries
Complaints Reporting Fatalities
0
Consumer filings citing fatalities

Most Reported Problems for 2016 Nissan Frontier

Top automotive subsystem defect categories ranked by unique owner complaint volume in federal records

#1 Problem Area 25.6% of complaints

Air Bags & Restraints

11 owner complaints submitted to NHTSA ODI
⚠️ 2 crash reports 🩹 3 injury report entries
#2 Problem Area 18.6% of complaints

Fuel & Propulsion System

8 owner complaints submitted to NHTSA ODI
✓ 0 crashes or fires cited
#3 Problem Area 16.3% of complaints

Engine & Cooling

7 owner complaints submitted to NHTSA ODI
🔥 1 fire report
#4 Problem Area 9.3% of complaints

Body & Structure

4 owner complaints submitted to NHTSA ODI
⚠️ NHTSA Recall Context

NHTSA records list 1 official safety recall campaign for this model year involving the same broad component area:

*Component overlap means an official recall exists for the same broad vehicle system. It does not establish that an individual owner complaint was caused by, covered by, or resolved through that recall.
🔥 1 fire report
#5 Problem Area 7% of complaints

Brakes & Traction Control

3 owner complaints submitted to NHTSA ODI
✓ 0 crashes or fires cited
Domain Share Note: Share percentage represents the proportion of unique complaint filings referencing each vehicle system. Because single complaints may cite multiple systems (such as engine and electrical simultaneously), domain percentages represent individual category incidence and may sum to over 100%.

Recent NHTSA Owner Reports for 2016 Nissan Frontier

Representative defect filings submitted by owners to the NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation

Other / Miscellaneous NHTSA ODI ID: #11753328
Filed: 07/28/2026

"OUR 2016 NISSAN FRONTER HAS A SLOW AIR LEAK ON THE TIRES AFTER HAVEING THEM CHECKED BY A TIRE DEALER IT WAS FOUND THE TIRE PRESSURE SENSOR (TPS) WAS LEAKING AT THE CORE DEALER WAS UNABLE TO REMOVE THE CORE OR THE NUT THAT HOLDS THE TPS ON THE WHEEL. GALVONIC REACTION HAD WELDED ALL IN PLACE ...."

Incident Date: 07/28/2026 • Raw NHTSA Component: UNKNOWN OR OTHER
Fuel & Propulsion System NHTSA ODI ID: #11694089
Filed: 10/17/2025

"I am experiencing a fuel pump issue that stalls the engine while driving. The issue will sometimes go away if I first loosen the fuel cap on the gas tank to relieve built up pressure but after driving for 10 to 15 minutes or so the vehicle will begin to jerk while accelerating then it will stall..."

Incident Date: 10/17/2025 • Raw NHTSA Component: FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM
Body & Structure NHTSA ODI ID: #11624547
Filed: 11/11/2024

"A loud squeaking has developed during every day driving. After inspecting - the front right truck bed mounting location has cracked and failed."

Incident Date: 08/01/2024 • Raw NHTSA Component: STRUCTURE
Fuel & Propulsion System NHTSA ODI ID: #11614337
Filed: 09/12/2024

"WHILE FUELING AT DIFFERENT GAS STATIONS THE TANK SPILLS/BELCHES GAS ALL OVER. THIS IS A MAJOR SAFETY ISSUE AND NEEDS RECALLED. THERE ARE ENDLESS COMPLAINTS ON [XXX] OF SIMILAR ISSUES OCCURRING TO OTHER FRONTIER OWNERS. I TOOK IT TO MY LOCAL MECHANIC AND WAS QUOTED OVER $800 TO REPLACE ALL 5..."

Incident Date: 09/12/2024 • Raw NHTSA Component: FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM
Air Bags & Restraints NHTSA ODI ID: #11608384
Filed: 08/14/2024

"The airbag warning light is blinking and has been for approximately 9 months. I live in Salida, CO which does not have a Nissan Dealership to take my vehicle into for servicing. I recently saw an article on Fox 31 News pertaining to the same airbag malfunction and would like to know what to do..."

Incident Date: 12/01/2023 • Raw NHTSA Component: AIR BAGS
Consumer Narrative Notice: Excerpts are sanitized text descriptions submitted by vehicle owners to the federal ODI database. They reflect the reporting consumer's observations at the time of filing and have not been independently confirmed by vehicle manufacturers or government investigators.

Complaint History for Nissan Frontier

Reported defect complaint volume across sibling model years (2015–2026)

Model Year NHTSA Complaints Crash Reports Safety Recalls Detailed Report
2015 Nissan Frontier 33 2 0 View 2015 Problems →
2016 Nissan Frontier Current Page 43 3 1 Current
2017 Nissan Frontier 38 4 1 View 2017 Problems →
2018 Nissan Frontier 25 0 2 View 2018 Problems →
2019 Nissan Frontier 28 1 1 View 2019 Problems →
2020 Nissan Frontier 23 3 2 View 2020 Problems →
2021 Nissan Frontier 17 1 2 View 2021 Problems →
2022 Nissan Frontier 110 11 6 View 2022 Problems →
2023 Nissan Frontier 64 4 1 View 2023 Problems →
2024 Nissan Frontier 19 0 3 View 2024 Problems →
2025 Nissan Frontier 7 0 3 View 2025 Problems →
2026 Nissan Frontier 0 0 1 View 2026 Problems →
Comparative Disclaimer: Complaint totals are unadjusted historical counts and are not normalized for vehicles sold, active fleet size, or total road mileage. Newer model years naturally have had less calendar exposure time to accumulate owner filings.

Detailed NHTSA Component Breakdown for 2016 Nissan Frontier

Complete distribution of consumer defect reports across all 21 granular NHTSA system and subsystem classifications

Vehicle Component / System Total Complaints Crash Reports Fire Reports Reported Injury Entries Reported Fatality Entries
Air Bags NHTSA category: AIR BAGS 8 1 0 0 0
Other / Uncategorized NHTSA category: UNKNOWN OR OTHER 6 0 0 0 0
Engine NHTSA category: ENGINE 5 0 0 0 0
Fuel & Propulsion System NHTSA category: FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM 5 0 0 0 0
Structure & Body NHTSA category: STRUCTURE 3 0 0 0 0
AIR BAGS,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE 1 1 0 3 0
AIR BAGS,UNKNOWN OR OTHER,FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM 1 0 0 0 0
Electrical System NHTSA category: ELECTRICAL SYSTEM 1 0 0 0 0
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,STRUCTURE,ENGINE 1 0 1 0 0
ELECTRONIC STABILITY CONTROL (ESC),SERVICE BRAKES 1 0 0 0 0
ENGINE,FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM 1 0 0 0 0
Powertrain NHTSA category: POWER TRAIN 1 0 0 0 0
POWER TRAIN,ENGINE 1 0 0 0 0
POWER TRAIN,SERVICE BRAKES 1 0 0 0 0
Seat Belts NHTSA category: SEAT BELTS 1 0 0 0 0
Service Brakes NHTSA category: SERVICE BRAKES 1 0 0 0 0
STEERING,SUSPENSION,WHEELS 1 1 0 0 0
STEERING,UNKNOWN OR OTHER 1 0 0 0 0
UNKNOWN OR OTHER,FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM 1 0 0 0 0
Visibility & Wipers NHTSA category: VISIBILITY/WIPER 1 0 0 0 0
Wheels & Hubs NHTSA category: WHEELS 1 0 0 0 0
Data Attribution & Reporting Methodology: Complaints are unverified voluntary submissions to the NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation (ODI). Because multiple vehicle components can be cited within a single owner complaint submission, component-level rollups may sum to more than the unique complaint count (43). Injury and fatality entries in the detailed table reflect raw values entered by reporting consumers across individual submissions; they are not deduplicated casualty statistics and may include duplicate or unverified entries. Complaint volume is not normalized for sales volume or vehicle mileage and does not represent an audited component failure rate.
Official US Government Data Provenance

The complaint records on this page are retrieved directly from the NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) public database.

Local Production Store Compiled: August 2026 • Deterministic Audited Dataset • Zero Dynamic External API Runtime Latency.